Beaumont, Christophe De

Beaumont, Christophe de a noted French prelate, was born, July 26, 1703, at La Roque, in the diocese of Sarlat. In 1741 he.was made bishop of Bayonne, in 1745 archbishop of Vienne, and in 1746 of Paris. He very rigorously sustained the bull Unigenitus against the Jansenists, and forbade the administration of the sacraments to those about to die unless they could prove by a certificate that they had formerly. confessed to the priest of the parish. But the Parliament immediately took the matter in hand, and declared that the sacraments could not be refused on this ground, since the bull Unigenitus was not a rule of faith. The archbishop was supported by the king, but the Parliament persisted in their determination, and, when such a case of refusal occurred, had the revenues of the archbishop confiscated. The king forbade the Parliament to interfere in spiritual affairs, and followed his action by banishing all its members to foreign parts; but it was to no purpose. He was finally compelled to yield, since most of the other French bishops declared that the presentation of a certificate of confession was not necessary for the administration of the sacraments. Beaumont died in 1781. To great courage and firmness he added inextinguishable charity. See Ferlet, Eloge Funebre de Mgr. de Beaumont (Paris, 1784); Lichtenberger, Encyclopedie des Sciences Religieuses, s.v.; Gieseler, Ecclesiastical History, v, 180; Zuchold, Bibl. Theol. i, 85. (B. P.)